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2022/2023

Spanish American Literature: Pre-Hispanic to 19th Century

Code: 100630 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500248 Spanish Language and Literature OB 3 1
2501801 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 3 1
2501801 Catalan and Spanish Studies OT 4 1
2501910 English and Spanish Studies OT 3 1
2501910 English and Spanish Studies OT 4 1

Contact

Name:
Beatriz Ferrus Anton
Email:
beatriz.ferrus@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
Yes

Teachers

Christian Snoey Abadias

Prerequisites

By obtaining the minimum of credits in basic training subjects, students have demonstrated to have acquired the basic competences and they will be able to express themselves orally and in writing.

For this reason, any spelling and expression errors that may be committed will lead to a score decrease in the final grade.

 

Activities, practical sessions and papers submitted in the course must be original and under no circumstances will the total or partial plagiarism of third-party materials published on any medium be admitted. Any submission of non-original material without properly indicating its origin will automatically result in a failure rating (0).

It is also expected that students know the general rules of submission of an academic work. However, students could apply the specific rules that the teacher of the subject may indicate to them, if they deem it necessary.

Objectives and Contextualisation

"Spanish American Literature: from pre-Hispanic literature to the 19th century" is integrated into the subject of Colonial and Spanish-American Literature, which is part of the 108 credits of compulsory education of the Spanish Language and Literature Degree, which the student attends along with other subjects of Spanish language and literature.

 

This subject inaugurates the course of Spanish-American Literature in the Spanish Language and Literature Degree, within which it is responsible for introducing the student in the chronological period that goes from the indigenous literatures to the 19th century. Since it is the first time that students enter the critical reality of literature in Latin America, it is very important to teach them to think about the differences and similarities that exist between the object "Hispanic American literature" and the object "Spanish literature". As well as it is very important delving them into the specific problems of the Latin American critical field. Therefore, history of literature, historiography and criticism will be part of this subject. The fundamental objectives of the subject are, therefore, to make known the specificity of this object of study, while teaching how to to analyze it with the proper tools of the subject.

Competences

    Spanish Language and Literature
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history of Spanish and Latin American literature, with special attention to the evolution of genres, movements, trends, trends and styles, and relate them to their historical, artistic and ideological context.
  • Master the techniques and methods of literary text analysis and critical analysis of works as a whole and its related disciplines: rhetoric and poetics.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    Catalan and Spanish Studies
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history of Spanish and Latin American literature, with special attention to the evolution of genres, movements, trends, trends and styles, and relate them to their historical, artistic and ideological context.
  • Master the techniques and methods of literary text analysis and critical analysis of works as a whole and its related disciplines: rhetoric and poetics.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
    English and Spanish Studies
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the history of Spanish and Latin American literature, with special attention to the evolution of genres, movements, trends, trends and styles, and relate them to their historical, artistic and ideological context.
  • Master the techniques and methods of literary text analysis and critical analysis of works as a whole and its related disciplines: rhetoric and poetics.
  • Students have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (normally within their study area) to issue judgments that include reflection on important issues of social, scientific or ethical.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyze complete works of colonial and Hispanic literary production, from Modernism to contemporary times.
  2. Comment pre-Hispanic and colonial texts from the perspective of rhetoric.
  3. Critically interpret literary works take into account the relationships between different areas of literature and its relationships with human, artistic and social areas.
  4. Critically interpret literary works, taking into account the relationships between the different areas within literature and their relationship to humanistic, artistic and social areas.
  5. Critically interpreting literary works taking into account the relationships between the different areas of literature and its relationships with human, artistic and social areas.
  6. Define the main resources of historiography and Indian epic, written by professionals, monks or soldiers.
  7. Describe and explain generic concepts applied to the main works of the colonial literature and Latin American
  8. Describe and explain generic concepts applied to the main works of the colonial literature and Latin American.
  9. Discriminate and analyze the main characteristics of the genres of American literature from colonial times until the nineteenth century.
  10. Interpret the Hispanic culture: notions of mythology, religion, anthropology, ethnology and arts.
  11. Present works in formats tailored to the needs and personal styles, both individual and small group.
  12. Relate different literary aspects of works of colonial literature until the nineteenth century.
  13. Social contextualize and ideologically colonial and Latin literary production.
  14. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  15. Use suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.
  16. Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.

Content

BLOCK I: Theoretical foundations for the study of Hispano-American literature.

I. Heterogeneity, origins and periodization.

II. Theory of dependence, transculturation, alterity. Postcolonial and decolonial theories.

III. Theoretical problems around the indigenous literatures.

BLOCK II: From prehispanic literatures to the colonial society

IV. Indigenous literary manifestations. Indigenous literature today. 

V. The conquest: fiction and figuration.

VI: The "Covering of America": the voyages of Christopher Columbus and the Sumario de la natural historia de las Indias by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo.

VII: The Conqueror before the mirror: Cartas de relación by Hernán Cortés and Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España by Bernal Díaz del Castillo. 

VIII: Controversy about the legitimacy of the conquest and the "discurso del fracaso": Bartolomé de las Casas and the indigenous issue. Los Naufragios by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. The voice of the others: Indigenous and mestizo chroniclers.

IX: The voice of the others. Alonso de Ercilla, the Inca Garcilaso and Guamán Poma de Ayala.

X: Baroque society, concepts for reflection. Poetry of the baroque. Prose as an anticipation of the novel.

XI: . Women in the colonial period. Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

XII: Theater during the colony. Origins of theater in Spanish America. Indigenous cultures and the overlap of cultural systems in theater. The american baroque theater.

BLOCK III: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

XIII: The American 18th century and the preparation for emancipation. (El Lazarillo de ciegos caminantes y Periquillo Sarniento). Simón Bolívar's Carta de Jamaica.

XIV: Travel literature. The emergence of romanticism.

XV: Discourses for national construction: La cautiva and El matadero by Esteban Echeverría, Facundo by Sarmiento and Martín Fierro by Hernández. Juana Manso and Juana Manuela Gorriti.

XVI: Women in the national imaginary. The sentimental novel. María by Jorge Isaacs and Sab by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda.

XVII: The Latin American short story of the 19th century. 

XVIII: "Costumbrismo" and Ricardo Palma's Tradiciones peruanas. Realism. Naturalism: Eugenio Cambaceres, Mercedes Cabello de Carbonera.

 

Methodology

The methodology is typical of the literary historiography, especially of the new Latin American studies; as well as of the cultural studies, feminism, postcolonialism and decolonialism. It is combined, in turn, with the proper tools of the commentary of texts.

The learning of this subject by the students is distributed as follows:

  • Directed activities. These activities are divided into master classes and seminars and classroom practices led by the faculty, in which theoretical explanation is combined with discussion of all types of texts.
  • Supervised activities. These tutorials are programmed by the teacher, dedicated to correcting and commenting on problems at different levels of literary analysis.
  • Autonomous activities. These activities include both time devoted to individual study and production of papers and analytical comments written, as well as oral presentations.
  • Evaluation activities. The evaluation of the subject will be carried out through written tests.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Class 50 2 1, 2, 13, 6, 7, 9, 16, 10, 12
Type: Supervised      
Tutorial 13 0.52 1, 2, 13, 6, 7, 9, 16, 10, 12
Type: Autonomous      
Personal wok, exam 60 2.4 1, 2, 13, 6, 7, 9, 16, 10, 12

Assessment

The evaluation is continuous and includes three aspects:

Two exams, where starting from a question related to each block, the student must write a report of the subject. The accuracy of contents, the way in which they are exposed and elaborated, the justification of ideas, the critical capacity will be taken into account; but, above all, the mastery of the work methodology from which the subject has been presented.

A supervised essay, where the student will go into depth on aspects studied in the class, elaborating a more extensive essay, on a script provided for such purpose. The work will be supervised by the teacher, who will set a timetable agreed with the student. Effort capacity, critical reflection, correct writing, justification of ideas, use of bibliography, search of material and compliance with the required deadlines will be taken into account.

The student who does not perform any of the three evaluation blocks will be considered "Not evaluated".

Exceptional cases should be discussed with the teacher during the first week of class so that the evaluation can be adapted.

Punctuation

Exam 1: 3 points: 30%

Exam 2: 3 points: 30%

Essay: 4 points: 40%

To pass this subject, it is essential to obtain an average grade of 5.

Recovery exam

Initially, it should be taken into account that in order to be eligible for re-evaluation, students are obliged to attend all the evaluable tests. Therefore, only students who previously submitted all the tests will have the opportunity to recover those suspended.

Students are entitled to the recovery exam set by the faculty only if their average grade is 3.5.

By obtaining the minimum of credits in basic training subjects, students have demonstrated to have acquired the basic competences and they will be able to express themselves correctly verbally and in writing. For this reason, any spelling and expression errors that may be committed will lead to a score decrease in the final grade which could even result in a failure rating.

Activities, practical sessions and papers submitted in the course must be original and under no circumstances will the total or partial plagiarism of third-party materials published on any medium be admitted. Any submission of non-original material without properly indicating its origin will automatically result in a failure rating (0).

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Essay 40% 23 0.92 1, 2, 13, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 15, 5, 3, 4, 10, 14, 11, 12
Exam 1 30% 2 0.08 1, 2, 13, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 15, 5, 3, 4, 10, 14, 11, 12
Exam 2 30% 2 0.08 1, 2, 13, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 15, 5, 3, 4, 10, 14, 11, 12

Bibliography

 Handbooks

-González Echevarría, Roberto y Pupo Walker, Enrique (2006): Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana. Del descubrimiento al modernismo, Madrid: Gredos.

-Madrigal, Íñigo, coord. (2008): Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana. Época colonial, Madrid: Cátedra.

-***Oviedo, José Miguel (1995): Historia de la literatura hispanoamericana. 1. De los orígenes a la Emancipación, Madrid: Alianza.

 

Block I

-Abellán, José Luis (1972): La idea de América Latina: origen y evolución, Madrid: Istmo.

-Campra, Rosalba (1987): América Latina: la identidad y la máscara, México: Siglo XXI.

-Cándido, Antonio (1987): “Literatura nacional, regional y latinoamericana” en Pizarro, Ana (coord.): Hacia una historia de la literatura hispanoamericana, México: El Colegio de México.

-Henríquez Ureña, Pedro (1947): Historia de la cultura de la América hispánica, México: FCE.

---(1949): Las corrientes literarias en América la América hispánica, México: FCE.

-Pizarro, Ana, ed. (1985): La literatura latinoamericana como proceso, Buenos Aires: Centro Editor de América Latina.

---(1987): Hacia una historia de la literatura latinoamericana, México: El Colegio de México.

-Rama, Ángel (1975): “Sistema literario y sistema social en Hispanoamérica” en VVAA: Literatura y praxis social en América Latina, Caracas: Monte Ávila.

---(1982): Transculturación narrativa en América Latina, México: Siglo XXI.

---(1984): La ciudad letrada, Hanover: Ediciones del Norte.

Block II

-Ainsa, Fernando (1977): Los buscadores de utopía, Caracas: Monte Ávila.

---(1984): “Tensión utópica e imaginario subversivo en Hispanoamérica”, ALHA, nº13.

-Ferrús, Beatriz (2008): La Monja de Ágreda, historia y leyenda de la dama azul en Norteamérica, Valencia: PUV.

-Fuentes, Carlos (1990): Valiente Mundo Nuevo. Épica, utopía y mito en la novela hispanoamericana, Madrid: Mondadori.

-Gruzinski, Serge (1990): La guerra de las imágenes. De Cristóbal Colón a Blade Runner (1492-1992), México: FCE

---(2007): El pensamiento mestizo. Cultura amerindia y civilización del Renacimiento, Barcelona: Paidós

****-Pastor, Beatriz (1993): Discurso narrativo de la conquista de América, Cuba: Casa de las Américas.

---(1996): El jardín y el peregrino: Ensayos sobre el pensamiento utópico latinoamericano (1492-1695), Amsterdam: Rodopi.

-Restall, Matthew (2003), Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, New York: Oxford University Press. 

-Rosenblant, Ángel (1965): La primera visión de América y otros estudios, Caracas: Ministerio de Educación.

-***Todorov, Tzvetan (1987): La conquista de América. El problema del otro, México: Siglo XXI.

Block III

-Anderson, Benedict: Comunidades imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo, México: FCE, 2006.

-Jordán, Pilar y Dalla-Corte, Gabriela (2006): “Mujeres y sociabilidad en la construcción de los Estados Nacionales” en Morant, Isabel (dir.): Historia de las mujeres en España y América Latina. Del siglo XIX a los umbrales del XX, Madrid: Cátedra.

-Masiello, Francine (1997): Entre civilización y barbarie. Mujeres, Nación y Cultura literaria en la Argentina moderna, Argentina: Beatriz Viterbo.

-Pratt, Mary Louise (1997):Ojos imperiales, Buenos Aires: Universidad Nacional de Quilme.

-Salvatore, Ricardo (2002): Culturas imperiales, Buenos Aires: Beatriz Viterbo.

-Schmidt-Welle, Friedhelm (ed.): “Introducción: ficciones y silencios fundacionales” en Ficciones y silencios fundacionales. Literaturas y culturas poscoloniales en América Latina (siglo XIX), Madrid: Iberoamericana-Vervuet, 2003.

-Vieira Powers, Karen. Women in the Crucible of ConquestThe Gendered Genesis of Spanish American Society, 1500-1600. New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.

 

Required readings


Selection by the teacher of various chronicle texts. 

Bartolomé de las Casas, Brevísima relación de la destrución de las Indias. Madrid, Cátedra. Also on Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/brevsima-relacin-de-la-destruccin-de-las-indias-0/html/847e3bed-827e-4ca7-bb80-fdcde7ac955e_18.html#I_5_

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Naufragios. Madrid, Cátedra. Also on Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/naufragios--0/html/feddcf8e-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html#I_0_

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Poemas. Selección a cargo del profesor. Visit website on Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/portales/sor_juana_ines_de_la_cruz/

Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Sab, Madrid, Cátedra. Also on Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/sab--0/html/ff1fa97c-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_4.html#I_0_

José Hernández, Martín Fierro, Madrid, Cátedra. Also on Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-gaucho-martin-fierro--1/html/ff29ee5a-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html#I_0_

Esteban Echeverría, El matadero, Madrid, Cátedra. Also on Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/el-matadero-1871/html/ff17c72a-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_3.html#I_0_

Eugenio Cambaceres, En la sangre. Cervantes Virtual: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/en-la-sangre--0/html/fef4abe6-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html

 

Software

  

 Teams